Elden Ring DLC Has The Chance To Fix One Major Base Game Problem

Summary Boss balancing in Elden Ring is uneven, some bosses are too easy or too challenging due to wildly varying stats.

Elden Ring bosses have two design philosophies, with some emphasizing patience while others are too aggressive.

Elden Ring's upcoming DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, provides an opportunity for FromSoftware to improve boss design and balancing.

Elden Ring is the best-selling title FromSoftware has ever developed, taking the soulsborne games into uncharted territory with its open world. Thanks to this, it is the most approachable of the titles, while managing to keep the famously crushing difficulty that soulslike games are known for. With a project as large as Elden Ring, there are going to be some growing pains that prevent the game from being perfect. Sometimes, that can be too many reused assets, while other times it can be the balancing of certain enemies.

Other than their notorious difficulty, soulsborne titles are renowned for their boss designs, featuring major enemies with dozens of attacks and multiple phases. This is perhaps the most difficult element for other soulslikes to emulate, since bosses from a FromSoftware title have such a distinct feel to them. Despite Elden Ring being the developer's greatest success, some of its bosses miss the high bar that it has set for itself, and one reason for this is their balancing.

As soulsborne titles have gone on, the number of multiple phase bosses has increased. Sister Friede from Dark Souls 3 earned notoriety for her three distinct phases.

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Boss Balancing Is A Major Problem In Elden Ring

Stats Are Often Misleading

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As is the nature of any RPG that allows the player to grind to get to higher levels, it is impossible to make the difficulty of enemies universal. The point of making Elden Ring an open world title is to allow some players who may struggle more to become strong enough to complete the game at their own pace. That doesn't mean the difficulty of bosses relative to each other needs to vary as much as it does. Some require hours upon hours to eventually defeat, while others are slain in a single attempt without much thought being needed.

Strangely enough, this has less to do with the boss designs themselves, since some have great attacks and mechanics, they just need some tweaking in their stats. For instance, Maliketh, the Black Blade, one of the late game bosses, has a large variety of moves, outstanding design and prevalence in the lore. He hits as hard as one would expect for an enemy this late in the game, but he doesn't have enough health, especially because his two phases share one HP bar.

Morgott, the Omen King, and Rennala also share this issue, since both have unique mechanics, especially with Rennala's puzzle-orientated first phase, but neither fight lasts long enough for players to see what either boss is really about. On the complete opposite side of the scale, the Fire Giant and Malenia have too much health, which can make their fights tedious. For reference, facing Maliketh comes after the Fire Giant, yet the boss of the Flame Peak has almost four times the HP of the Black Blade.

Without any New Game Plus modifiers, Maliketh has 10,620 HP; the Fire Giant has 42,363 HP.

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Boss Mechanics In Elden Ring Can Improve Too

Variety Bordering On Erratic Design Philosophy

There is a reliance on spectacle with the design of some Elden Ring bosses. Although this is amazing in the first playthrough, soulsborne titles are known to be replayed constantly by their communities, and the lack of difficulty in these "spectacle fights" can lead them to becoming underwhelming on subsequent runs, since the player is already familiar with the boss' gimmick. This is the case with Rykard (since the fight is made for the Serpent Hunter Great Spear) and Ancestor Spirit fights.

Some bosses are simply over-tuned or require very specific items. Malenia may be the mascot of the game, but she feels as though she came from Sekiro with her attack speed. Combined with her immense health, life-stealing, and unparalleled damage, she gained her renowned difficulty in all the wrong ways. At least she has low poise, and can be easily staggered. Then there's Mohg, who would be a perfectly functional boss were it not for his "Nihil" chant, which requires a specific Crystal Tear to counter. This seems like an odd choice for a game with as much freedom as Elden Ring.

In general, the bosses of Elden Ring seem to be made with contradicting philosophies. Margit, Morgott, and Godfrey are known for their slow, intentionally delayed attacks to bait a player's dodge roll to encourage patience, while Maliketh, Malenia, and the Godskin Duo attack without reprieve, using constant aggression to overwhelm players. Although variety in design is desired, it feels like the bosses go too far in either direction, delaying attacks to the point of not attacking or giving the player no time to land blows of their own.

There is a popular theory, delineated by Zullie the Witch on YouTube, that Malenia began as a Sekiro boss concept that was cut from the game and later used in Elden Ring. This theory is used to explain her immense speed, difficulty and the uniqueness of her animations.

How Shadow Of The Erdtree Can Fix Elden Ring's Boss Issues

Continuing A FromSoftware Tradition

With the DLC beginning from Mohg's boss arena, the levels of enemies will likely be late or post-game levels, though the DLC is expected to also have its own power scaling system. Thankfully, this will aid in ensuring that the bosses stay balanced (stat wise), since compensation won't be required to accommodate players at different levels. It would also be assumed that those who buy the DLC are more dedicated Elden Ring players, meaning that the bosses can afford to be more complex without worrying about accessibility.

Once FromSoftware is more familiar with the mechanics of its latest game, it tends to have its best fights in its DLC. Lady Maria and Ludwig are two of Bloodborne's best fights, yet both bosses come from The Old Hunters DLC. For the Dark Souls series, Artorias, Sister Friede, Slave Knight Gael, and Sir Alonne all come from DLC, so there is hope that the best is yet to come from Elden Ring. FromSoftware hasn't made a misstep with its expansions yet and there's no reason to believe they will now with Shadow of the Erdtree.

Source: Zullie the Witch/YouTube